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But there are drawbacks. One must train assiduously. One must never seem awkward in action, never miss the single death stroke. To do either brings hisses, discredit, disgrace. The crowd knows the rules of the game meticulously and insists that its pleasure be exquisitely executed, from the first gravely passionate bar of the Carmen music that is always played, to the way the "butcher" or dagger-man delivers one last stroke of mercy when the bull is in his death throes. Bullfighting is a sport to be appreciated only by a hot-blooded people, folk in whom an artistic bloodlust is but one among many appetites—for seething, hot colors; for the glare of white sun-light on torrid sand; for violent animal action; for full-throated screaming; for rich wine, amorous deviltries; and a swift, red death rather than a gray old age.
*Catholic churches in some 18 other Peruvian towns also have a "Pizarro" on view. Lima's is commonly held to be the most authentic.
*These darts are usually dipped in some irritant—an acid, or "Spanish fly." Or they contain fireworks, to sizzle and pop behind the bull's ears and augment his infuriation.
*Mexico had also a famed bull, Bonito, who fought so gallantly—killing six horses, injuring many men—that the crowds thereafter demanded that his life be spared. Bonito was sent to the breeding pen, died well on in years.